ANALYSTS are pleased with the flat profit growth of spin-off Playmates Toys Holdings because the company that markets and distributes the cult Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has taken significant steps to get rid of one-product risk. ''We are happy to see a reasonable bottom-line figure,'' said Subash Chulani, an analyst with W I Carr Securities, adding that the profit figure was slightly above expectations. He said the market had responded warmly to the company's Star Trek line, which was estimated to account for 35 per cent of sales last year. Playmates took the spotlight in 1990 when it chalked up a huge increase in earnings on the back of turtle-mania in the United States. But its profits had been lower since the popularity of the green reptiles began to wane. Mr Subash said it would be hard for Playmates to repeat its turtle success with other product lines, asserting that the company was diversifying its range to include several other items, each accounting for 10 to 15 per cent of sales, in a bid to reducereliance on a single product. Winnie Chiu, an analyst with DBS Securities Hong Kong, said Playmates' performance had been improving. ''Although there is no profit growth, it can at least sustain the profit figure,'' she said. She had initially expected a profit drop at Playmates as turtle sales fell. She also pointed to the increase in profit contribution from associated companies, indicating an improved performance for French marketing arms Ideal Loisirs and Carre Blanc. Playmates Toys registered an operating loss of $12.6 million in the first six months, as a result of the seasonal business nature of the two French companies. Ms Chiu said Playmates' performance would hinge on the economic recovery in the US and Europe and how the market received the company's new product lines. Mr Subash said Playmates was a bargain, pointing to its low price-earnings multiple. Calculated on the basis earnings per share of 53 cents, the company traded at a ratio of 3.73 times on yesterday's closing of $1.98 after a drop of seven cents. The real estate and toy operations of Playmates International Holdings were separated into Playmates Properties Holdings and Playmates Toys. Kinson Au, analyst at the PW Asia Brokerage, said the challenge with Playmates Properties was its small size, which would limit its business growth in the short-term. ''It will be hard for the company to accumulate its land bank because the cost of land is very expensive,'' he said. He expected Playmates Properties to post major profit growth after 1996, when it redeveloped Shui Hing House in Tsim Sha Tsui which was bought for $1 billion in December. The lease by department store operator Shui Hing will expire in March 1996.
